Israel is The Dividing Line

It has taken me a couple of weeks to get my faculties together in order to write this post. Yes ... the filing system is quite deep :o) I tend to have to really chew on and work through (which includes much prayer) something first (step number one), then I either have to talk or write about it (step number two). I have decided that today would be a good day to write about it and to finally be able to file this topic and start chewing on the next one! I am pretty sure that this topic will re-surface again ... but hopefully the next time I will be a little stronger and more assured in this area ... Hellelu-YAH!!

About a month ago I was confronted with a lady verbally assaulting me for no other reason than for who she thought me to be. I have often been mistaken for being Jewish (I guess the head-covering and modest dress are the two main reasons why) ... but this time it was with pure hatred :o( This was the first time that I have ever encountered something like this, and at first it really shook me. At first I was confused ... ‘Is she talking to me?’ ... then I wondered ‘Why?’ ... and then the penny finally dropped ... ‘She thinks that I am Jewish!’... then I found myself becoming angry (at this point though, she was already gone) . I learned many valuable lessons that day, one of which is that reading and learning about anti-semitism (the holocaust etc) is one thing, actually physically and spiritually encountering the hatred that spurns these atrocities is quite another! Over the last month I have found myself revisiting all the changes that have taken place in my life over the last two years ... as we all know, Torah has a way of changing you!! I have had to ask myself really tough questions ... let’s face it, having a head knowledge on persecution and actually going through it are once again polar opposites! Before my journey in Torah Observance began, I didn’t look very different from the world that I live in, maybe if I am honest I didn’t behave that much differently either! Now how-ever ... I not only behave very differently, I also look very different. My very existence and all that I do is now determined by the fact that I now belong to another kingdom ... not of this world. After some analysing I have found that my faith (before TO) was very compartmentalised, I had church and such on Sunday and well ... these things didn’t really feature much in the rest of my week. Torah (Praise YAH) has a way of changing all of that ... so to answer one of those tough questions I found myself asking ‘Can I ever turn away from what YAH has called me to ... can I stop looking different and being so very different – walking in His ways - , even if I find myself being afraid?’. The answer by His grace is no, for I now find that my faith is no longer something that I believe ... instead it is who I have become.

Any-one who reads my blog will know that I have a heart and a love for Israel that I believe only YAH could give to us. Does this however mean that I think I am now Jewish ... no. Does this mean that I want to become Jewish ... no, for the very reason that we are from the nations grafted into the Israel of YAH proves His faithfulness!! Did He not promise that He Himself will cause ALL the families of the earth to be blessed through Avraham?

Galatians 3 v 14 ‘That the blessing of Avraham might come to the gentiles through Yeshua the Mashiach, that we might receive the promise of the spirit through faith...’

I believe that Israel is and will prove to be the dividing line in these last days. What the church has moved so far away from is the fact that apart from Israel there is no covenant.

Jer 31 v 33 ‘ But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of ISRAEL, after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and will be their God, and they shall be my people.’

Amos 3 v 2 ‘You only have I known of all the families of the earth ... ‘

The truth is that in order to partake of the covenant of salvation we must become part of the covenant family of YAH (Just to clarify - I am not talking about conversion). There are many who would disagree with me ... but I challenge any-one to prove otherwise from the word of YAH. I believe that we can learn much from the account of Naomi, Orpah and Ruth ... Orpah turned back ... but Ruth remained with Naomi, and both of them returned to the land and God of Israel ... both of them had to leave the pagan fields of Moab.

Ruth 2 v 11 – 12 ‘ ... and thou dost leave thy father, and thy mother, and the land of thy birth, and dost come in unto a people which thou hast not known heretofore, YHVH doth recompense thy work, and thy reward is complete from YHVH God of Israel, under whose wings thou hast come to take refuge,’

So in conclusion ... those who hate Israel (in my opinion) cannot love the Saviour, King and God of Israel. Yes I may not be Jewish by birth ... but I am now part of the common wealth of Israel (through YAH’s grace) my life and ways are all governed by the Torah of YAH. This means that I do look Jewish and my ways appear to be Jewish ... and yes, I will continue to stand alongside and with the people of Israel ... for just like Ruth I will not and cannot turn back ... for my heart you see ... is of Israel!

I pray all of YAH’s richest blessings over each one of you and your homes this Shabbat ... I pray that just like Ruth ... YAH through His grace will cause us to pursue Him with all of our hearts and with all of our strength, that the Shalom of YHVH the God of Israel will rest upon each one of us ... the redeemed of Israel!!

I would like to add a link to becky’s blog I Couldn't Believe It... she has also had a run in with anti-semetism. I think you will find her heart and strength encouraging.



Blessings and Shalom

 
 

A Declaration of the Heart

“And you have placed these my words on your heart, and on your soul, and have bound them for a sign on your hand, and they have been for frontlets between your eyes, and you have taught them to your children, by speaking of them in your sitting in your house, and in your going in the way, and in your lying down, and in your rising up ...” Devarim (Deut) 11 v 18 – 19




Prior to my learning to walk in Torah Observance ... this was just another verse in the ‘Old Testament’ that was beautiful but sadly had no relevance to me or how I lived my life. I am so very glad to say that by the grace of YHVH this has certainly and most definitely changed!

Now when I recite these words it is not only so that I can hear them and remind myself ... but more importantly that YHVH my King will hear this declaration from my heart, that He may know that my heart’s desire is to know and love Him above all else and to honour Him with my life. When I recite these ... His words ... my heart aches with a longing and desire I have never known before. Is this the desire that has defined the hearts and lives of our Jewish brothers and sisters for Millenia? I now understand and believe it to be so :o)

The Shema is not just an idle string of words (although to some they may be – just like they once were to me) but instead it is truly a declaration of the heart.

The Shema is often the very first words that a Jewish son or daughter will hear for the very first time. How often do our children hear these words? Are they being taught that YHVH is the beginning and end of all life, that their sole purpose for being is to love, honour, obey and worship Him?

I want to share this story and this video with you today ...

This is a story about the Ponevitcher Rav, Rabbi Yosef Kahaneman zt”l. Legend tells us that after the Holocaust, Rabbi Kahaneman was looking for Jewish children who were hidden away during the war and had survived. As some of the children were believed to have been tucked away in church orphanages, Rabbi Kahaneman went searching for them in these individual churches. He was granted permission to enter the children’s section, but was told there were no Jewish children to be found there. As he entered he began calling out “Shema Yisroel”. Instinctively many of the children raised their hands to cover their eyes and started calling out “Mama! ... Mama!”

Hallelu-Yah .... What an awesome God we serve!!

Blessings and Shalom!!

 

Who Are We?

'His foundation is in the holy mountains.

YHVH loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacov.

Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of YHVH. 

I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me: behold Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia,

this man was born there.

And of Zion it shall be said, This and that man was born in her: and the Highest Himself shall establish her.

YHVH shall count, when He writes up the people, that this man was born there.

As well the singers as the players on instruments shall be there: all my springs are in thee.'

- Psalm 87

Praise YAH for His loving kindness and faithfulness!!

The one thing that is grieving my heart this Shabbat ... is the one thing my eyes have been blind to for far too long. My eyes have now been opened and my heart is heavy ... for I am now able to see the degree of anti-semitism that has/is infecting the house and people of YHVH. At least this is what they profess to be.

The day that YHVH opened my eyes to His Torah and revealed His heart to me, is the day that life truly began! There have been many changes ... both inside and out ... I am truly a new creation! Praise YAH!!

I am called out ... called to leave behind all the lies and vanities that I have inherited. Called to leave all vain imaginations that have raised themselves up against the true knowledge of who YHVH is. Called to become a daughter of the Most High God ...

With this 'calling' comes a new identity ... a new destiny ... a new future, inheritence and hope!

And a new people that I am now a part of ...ISRAEL.

Unless I am a child of Israel ... I cannot be a partaker of His covenant.

The covenants were made with Israel and remain with Israel, and we wait with anticipation for the final fulfillment of all of YHVH'S promises to Israel!

Israel are who they are because of YHVH - the God of Israel. Their ways ... are His ways.

If His ways are now becoming my ways (by His mercy and grace I have been lovingly grafted in) - the question is... who am I going to start looking like? Is my life going to start being a reflection of His Torah? And if so ... then what people am I going to start resembling? There has only ever been one nation that are set apart in their keeping of the Shabbat and feasts and Torah of YHVH ... Israel.

Only with these changes taking place in my life have my eyes been opened to the undercurrents of anti-semitism and hatred that lie undetected in so many hearts. Many are afraid of being identified with Israel ... the land, the people and even the Jewish Messiah. Maybe we should examine our hearts a little more ... after all is it not a privilege to be identified as one of the people of YHVH ... set apart and in covenant with Him?

As the people of YHVH .. we should be carrying Israel - the people and the land - deep within our hearts, just as He does. Their struggles and wrestlings should drive us to our knees in prayer ... after all ... are they not our people. Is Israel not the home our spirits yearn for?

Just as the Psalm above promises ... YHVH Himself will declare that we belong there with Him ... part of His people ... the Israel of God for all eternity!

Just as Naomi and Ruth had to leave the fields of Moab and return to the land and God of Israel - so too do we along with our Jewish brothers and sisters. Let our prayer this Shabbat be for our people to return to the God of Israel ... YHVH ... and His ways, that all vanities, lies and vain imaginations will be destroyed and that His name will be sanctified in all of Israel!

May YHVH bless you and keep you

May YHVH make His face to shine upon you

May YHVH lift up His countenance upon you

and give you His Shalom,

Blessings

Israel My Beloved

"They will never again defile themselves with their idols, their detestable things, or any of their transgressions, but I will save them from all the places where they have been living and sinning, and I will cleanse them, so that they will be my people, and I will be their God. My servant David will be king over them, and all of them will have one shepherd, they will live by my rulings and keep and observe my regulations. They will live in the land I gave to Ya'akov my servant, where your ancestors lived, they will live there - they, their children, and their granchildren, forever, and David my servant will be their leader forver. I will make a covenant of peace with them, an everlasting covenant. I will give to them, increase their numbers, and set my sanctuary among them forever. My home will be with them, I will be their God, and they will be my people. The nations will know that I am  YHVH, who sets Isra'el apart as holy, when my sanctuary is with them forever." - Yechezk'el (Ezekiel) 37:23-28  CJB.

We long for and look forward to that day ... when ALL of Israel will be saved and her Shalom ... final and complete.

The keeping of the Shabbat is the sign that sets us, the people of YHVH, apart from the rest of the nations. The keeping of the Shabbat is a privilege ... and a beautiful gift from our Father and our King. Many do not see this though ... and shout 'legalism' when confronted with a heart that wants to obey. If taking this one day and setting it apart from all others in order to have our spirit refreshed by His ... to have time to sing His praise and exalt ourselves in Him ... to allow ourselves to be reminded that He is the God in whose hand our breath is and in whom are all our ways ... that without Him there is no life - if all of this treasure can be labeled 'legalism' ... then a legalist I shall be. The thing is legalism does not bring freedom ... and the truth is ...

I HAVE NEVER BEEN MORE FREE!!!

Shabbat Shalom to all of Israel!!

We went into Gaza and God went into Gaza with us

Deut: 31:6  'Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, He it is that doth go with thee, He will not fail thee, nor forasake thee'

This Shabbat let us remember that our God is a God of covenant. His promises and covenant stands sure forever. Praise Yah that He is faithful to all of Israel, including those of us who have been graciously grafted in!!!